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Birdsong Variation As A Source Of Information For Migrating Common Yellowthroats, Rachel Theresa Bolus

Open Access Dissertations

Social information affects the movement decisions of animals and is often an essential factor in habitat selection. Social information should be especially relevant to long-distance migrating birds that navigate over long distances through unfamiliar habitats to find resources to survive. This information likely varies in both availability and importance at the different spatial scales relevant to migrating birds. Using the common yellowthroat as a case study, I tested whether cues might be available in the songs of locally breeding birds at the continental, within-site, and within-territory scales. At the continental scale, I described the geographic variation in song among genetic …